The nude crossfit sessions going viral are a hoax

Unfortunately, Danish gyms are not catering to those who want to strip off while working out

Good coffee, better company

May 23rd, 2014 3:49 pm| by Andreas Jakobsen & Lawrence Shanahan

It sounded like the opening scene from a Terminator movie. Big Arnie is manning the door of your gym, butt-naked. “I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.” Only then are you allowed to enter and take part in the all-male nude crossfit session.

But sadly the news that a gym in Aarhus is offering these workouts, which is going viral as we speak, is no more real than that Terminator scene.

It all started with an article in the Gaily Grind yesterday (while the story is a hoax, that apparently exists) that was soon picked up by the Huffington Post and many, many more.

Got cold feet
Nude crossfit was an April Fool’s joke that ran a little too far, explains Rune Jensen, the co-owner and an instructor at Spartan Mentality Crossfit in Aarhus.

“It started out as an April Fool’s joke that got too much attention,” he said.

“We then actually decided to start up the nude sessions, but in the end there was too much media focus on us. It all got a little too comical and we changed our minds. I have no idea how the story went viral.”

The April Fool’s story also said that exercises included the kettlebell – a cast-iron ball with a handle that you swing up above your head and back down between your legs – as well as rope-climbing (but watch out for that rope burn!).

Jensen didn’t recall that anyone had been interviewed by a magazine called the Gaily Grind, which he probably would have remembered.

“No, not at all. Unfortunately – as that would have been hilarious. They most likely translated the content from an old Danish article,” he said.